Fatherly Advice
by DreamWithYourEyesOpen
Summary: Sometimes a little fatherly advice is all a redhead needs during a situation involving a haughty bookworm.


The day was like any other. The Hogwarts Express rolls into the station on time, with the smoke roiling through the throngs of people excitingly waiting for their loved ones to finally be home. The train comes to a stop and piles upon piles of students come bursting out of the open doors.

A third year boy comes out of the train and tightens his red and yellow scarf around his neck, his vibrant hair gleaming in the sun. He scans the platform for his family that's sure to take up most of the landing and grins when he spots them. His twin is already with them, having left the train while he was still struggling with his owl's cage. He raises his free arm in greeting but is immediately shoved from behind. The owl hoots her displeasure and the red head shares her annoyance as he sees who pushed him. The girl, who is undoubtedly shorter than him but still somehow manages to look down on him, narrows her eyes. Blue eyes lock on brown and he swears he can feel electric in the air.

"You're in the way."

The boy glares at the current bane of his existence at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who has made it her mission to prevent him and his brother from having fun in any way or form. "Oh sod off you little firstie."

The girl's eyes widen at his words and she sticks her nose impossibly higher into the air. "You and your twin may be two years my senior but you act more like three year olds than third years," she says snootily. Before he can think of a good comeback (because really, who can argue with solid logic like that), she's gone with one last flick of her ridiculous hair.

The boy's eyes stay locked on the young Gryffindor as she strolls (with too much confidence) towards her nervous looking muggle family, who she greets (with too much emotion) and hands her heavy trunk to (with too much arrogance). He rolls his eyes and heads towards his own family, glad to be rid of the irksome first year for at least Christmas break.

His frown is immediately erased from his face the second he's in the warm embrace of the Weasley family, _his _family.

**HPHPHPHPHP**

Dinner that night goes by fast for the boy; he loves Hogwarts' food but it doesn't quite fill him up the way his mother's cooking does. After dinner, he's full and excited to plan out new pranks with his twin that are sure to make his break just _perfect _and-

"Boys. You stay in the kitchen." Bollocks.

Him and his twin visibly slump at his mother's words, both wracking their brains for why their mother would hold them back.

"Think it's about the toilet we exploded?"

"No, McGonagall owled her about that ages ago. Maybe the itching powder in Potter's pants?"

"Couldn't be, Potter would never tattle. Could be the-"

They both gasp. "The dung bomb!"

By the time their mother makes it back to the kitchen, the twins are quivering in their seats.

She crosses her arms and taps her foot with impatience. "Do you know why I called you in here?" One twin whispers to the next, "Say nothing; she can't prove anything."

Mrs. Weasley rolls her eyes. "I know about the dung bombs." They immediately start to spit out excuses at her that she ends with one wave of her hand. "Don't even try to make excuses for yourselves, McGonagall already told me all about it. How irresponsible and thickheaded do you two have to be to even-" The boy sits next to his twin and listens to his mother go on a tirade about their actions. He zones out a bit, having heard similar speeches before. A little 'irresponsible' here, a little 'grounded' there, and a bit of 'first year' there- hold on.

"Wait, first year? What first year?" His mother bristles at his interruption, but the boy meets her glare like a true Gryffindor (albeit, with a little fright mixed in there.)

"Were you not listening to me? Some first year in your House saw what you did with the dung bombs; she's the one who alerted McGonagall."

He feels his anger boil up and his face soon matches his hair. "How dare she!" Flashes of the resident thorn in his side dart through his mind and he suddenly just can't take it all. "That no-good, arrogant bookworm can bloody well kiss my arse."

His mother smacks the side of his head with her brown eyes flashing in anger. "Watch your mouth! You will not speak that way under my roof!" His twin stares at him with half curiosity and half confusion. They've always shared the same opinion on the meddling firstie but sometimes he was prone to take his anger with her about two steps farther.

Sensing no help from his twin, and no mercy from his mother, he storms out of the kitchen towards his room. A second later, his mother and twin hear his door being slammed shut.

Mrs. Weasley sighs and shakes her head. Her husband walks in from the living room and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'll go talk to him." He gives her a kiss on the cheek and the remaining twin one last look before heading upstairs.

**HPHPHPHPHP**

"Tell me about her."

The boy looks up from his bed where he's stretched out with his old Beaters stick propping his head up. His father leans on the frame of his door with a knowing look on his aging face.

He sits up with his back against the wall and traces the lines on his bat, refusing to meet his father's eyes. "She's just this maddening first year who sticks her nose in places where she shouldn't." He feels the bed dip next to him and he feels his resolve waver, but not enough to smooth the lines on his forehead and relax the clench of his jaw.

His dad pries the bat from his hands and looks at it with something akin to remorse. "This used to be mine you know. Me and your uncle used to kick butt back in the day." The boy finally looks his way and huffs. "I know, Dad. You've told me."

His dad gives him a smirk. "There's another thing we have in common. I had the same issue as you back when I went to Hogwarts." The son screws his eyes up in confusion. "Getting detention too much?" His dad laughs and with his laugh, the boy wavers a bit more. "No, well _yes, _but I meant about the girl." At the mention of her, the boy's walls go right back up and he turns away from his dad.

"And what I mean by that," his dad turns him back to face him. "Is that I knew a girl just like that. She was constantly getting under my skin and getting me in trouble." The boy lights up; _finally _someone who understands!

"Did she act as if she was Merlin reincarnated too?!" His dad laughs but nods. "She sure did. She knew everything about anything and loved to flaunt it. I'm surprised she didn't grow a humped back from the amount of books she'd lug around."

He can feel himself starting to cheer up a bit. If his dad went through the same thing and survived than surely his chances are pretty good too. His dad continues and looks a little wistful. "Yeah, she was a spitfire. Constantly threatening me and pushing me around; she drove me crazy."

"Really?" the boy asked, with a huge smile on his face. "Did you stupify her?"

He guffaws and pats him on the back. "No son; I valued my life too much to attempt that."

He huffs and crosses his arms. "Then what _did _you do?"

"I married her."

The boy's hope shatters inside of him. He grimaces with disgust and turns on his side. "Yeah, okay dad. Thanks for the pep talk. _Great _advice." Mr. Weasley laughs. On his way out of his sons' room, he can faintly hear his son whispering '_preposterous...he just doesn't get it...I'll just prank her.'_

**HPHPHPHPHP**

His wife raises her eyebrow at the sight of his smirk when he enters their bedroom.

"What did you do."

"I didn't do anything!" He changes into his pajamas and crawls into bed next to her. She continues to stare him down with that suspicious look in her eye.

"Fine," he huffs in defeat. "I gave him some girl advice."

She cracks a smile. "Girl advice from you? Honey, I didn't know you wanted our boys to grow to be hermits."

"Hardy har har," he says sarcastically with a swift poke in her side. "No, I told him a bit of our story."

Her face softens and she gives him a warm smile. "That sounds like pretty good advice to me."

He smiles back at her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. With a swish of his wand, he turns the lights off. He wraps his arms around her and feels something within him click right into place; his eye lids are already getting heavy.

She snuggles into his arms and closes her eyes as well.

"Goodnight Fred."

He smiles. "Goodnight Hermione."


End file.
